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Raider wins battle for Cala Homes

Cala Homes has won a fight to develop 2,000 homes on a controversial site near Winchester

A PRIVATE EQUITY fund set up by a former Lehman Brothers banker is in talks to take over one of the oldest national housebuilders, underlining the return of confidence in the property market.

Patron Capital, run by Keith Breslauer, has outbid Taylor Wimpey to take pole position in the race to buy Cala Homes.

Cala builds upmarket properties in Scotland, the Midlands and southeast England. Last year it won a hard-fought battle with the government to develop 2,000 homes on a controversial site near Winchester after local opposition.

Patron’s swoop comes at a time when generous government support and cheap land have revived the fortunes of housebuilders, many of which fell into serious difficulty during the financial crisis. The share prices of the five biggest housebuilders rose by an average 71% last year.

Cala — once the City of Aberdeen Land Association — was the first Scottish company to list in London,